Mortgage lending hits 11-month high

Home loans totalled £12.9bn last month, an 11 month high, according to the
Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The 4pc year on year increase signals the end of recent market weakness, said the CML's chief economist, Bob Pannell.

"House purchase and remortgage activity both appear to have picked up recently, and this should be supported by an improvement in the availability and pricing of mortgages," he said.

"The Funding for Lending Scheme is likely to have made an early positive impact, helping to counter some of the negative pressures associated with a protracted and weak economic recovery."

There was a sharp decline the previous month, with home loans equalling just £11.3bn in September. The last time mortgage lending peaked at more than £12.8bn was in November last year when it totalled £13.2bn.

Mark Harris of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients said that the increase boded well for next year as he expected the increase to continue due to the better mortgage availability.

"As lenders saturate the low loan-to-value market with a plethora of rock-bottom rates, they will be forced to turn to the higher LTV bracket if they are going to do any significant levels of business, which will mean cheaper rates and more choice for first-time buyers in particular," he said.

"We are already starting to see one or two lenders – most notably the Co-operative Bank with its two-year fix pegged at 3.99pc for those with a 10pc deposit – offer cheaper rates at high LTVs."